WEBBER

Elizabeth Webber University of Richmond Class of 2013

DRAFT 4-P3 WC=1837

Manifestations of Clothing in Society and Brave New World
(though "manifestations" could be more specific, I'm hooked by the title!)

Clothing has the unique and powerful ability to express differing levels of social class as well as make a statement to society. These classes can be dictated by socioeconomic status such as in current society or determined by random selection (actually, carefully "predestined") as in the Central London Hatchery in __Brave New World__ by Aldous Huxley. Huxley’s work depicts a futuristic bureaucratic world where individuality and emotional connection are prohibited. By simply examining the clothing choices in the novel, the author points out **a fear of obsession with material culture and social uniformity,** and the horrors of these realities are surprising in their effects on social practices. Therefore, dress is not simply cloth sewn together but has implications on it's wearer and society, and it is this **duality of expression and solidarity** that give it great value. Clothing, or lack thereof in the world state, manifests the social stratification and class association in both worlds.

The hierarchies in __Brave New World__ and within society today offer insight into the dangers of labeling individuals by material culture. In the novel, at the top of the social strata are the “Alphas”, followed by the “Betas”, the “Gamas”, the “Deltas”, and finally the “Epsilons”. These classes are separated by social (and biological) means but also by their designated apparel; their uniforms are different colors based on their caste. Economic class stratification exists today and manifests in the clothing chosen by varying classes, which gives subtle indications to a person’s socioeconomic standing. **Structural functionalism** (explain/define further) states that all organizations within society serve a purpose. While some serve a positive purpose others can serve a purpose in dysfunction. The hierarchies in the world state set up levels of social segregation that allow appropriate socialization for differing classes. By separating these groups, they form a bond with which to identify. These same functions appear in our current society.

Some of the dysfunctions that the world state presents include limiting intellectual ability, **restricting emotional contact** with others, and **suppressing individuality**. For the most part, these are not dysfunctions in society today, however, social class does dictate, to a certain extent, one’s access to education and other opportunities. Huxley attempts to warn readers of an over bureaucratized world that could become a reality in the future. In a tour of one of the conditioning factories, the director explains to visiting students, " But wordless conditioning is crude and wholesale; cannot bring home the finer distinctions, cannot inculcate the more complex courses of behaviour. For that there must be words, but words without reason. In brief, hypnopædia. 'The greatest moralizing and socializing force of all time"(Huxley, 35-36). Here the director describes the process of hypnopaedia in which all people in the world state undergo in order to learn appropriate social capital they need to interact in their futuristic world; this procedure of learning varies by the caste of the individual. Though the process is efficient and successful, its basis can be viewed as flawed in that morality is a learned ability to differentiate good and bad **whereas** the conditioning referred to simply instills this "morality" into the minds of citizens. Thus, by looking at clothing, it is evident that material culture demonstrates social hierarchical norms and how these are accepted within the society itself.

Clothing can range from simply material that covers the body to elaborate designs that are made to show styles of the time period. The OED defines “fashion” as “the mode of dress, etiquette, furniture, style of speech, etc., adopted in society for the time being." Fashion, therefore, is simply pop culture for clothing and can be defined distinctly with respect to each social class. Clothing has the ability to project socioeconomic status, creative ability, and self perceptions as well. (did you research the Milgram experiment or the Stanford prison experiment? both involve the symbolic power of clothing) It has the power to assert things about society as a whole based on what is being worn and how it is viewed. Macro-sociology allows for the research of these clothing patterns and their effects on societies self-value. For example, in __Brave New World__ the color of an individual’s uniform is mandated to show order and class ranking. Colored uniforms are given out such as gray for Alphas who reside in the upper class and black for the Epsilons who make up the lower class. This system represents the government’s imposition on personal liberties and desire to suppress individuality in any form. In both the world state and current society, clothing is often worn as a symbol of status.

Although consumerism is stressed in __Brave New World__ as well as in society today, the two realms present significantly different views with respect to clothing. Particularly, the world state gives consumerism and its promotion utmost importance, but in current economics it is merely a factor that contributes to other parts of people's lifestyles. Clothes and fashion have developed into a major industry internationally fueling capitalism and connection between nations, yet contrastingly there is no such industry in the world state that parallels. Thus, this bring up another important question. In the world state, does money have significance when class, occupation, and intelligence levels are set? Money may seem to be the ignition in American capitalism, but in the world state consumerism still exists without a large stress on such funds. It seems ironic that when consumerism is so strongly emphasized in __Brave New World,__ that there would be uniforms that withdraw this entire sector of consumption of clothing away from the masses.

Nevertheless, uniforms provide many sociological functions within society. Today uniforms, whether indicating profession or pleasure, promote social cohesion within and pride for the group they represent. It is because of the freedom to choose one's dress if desired that these symbols of uniform are so strong. However, in the world state uniforms are worn to be constant reminders of the hierarchical system that each person is placed in, yet this takes the freedom of choice away from each rank. By taking away an individual's liberty to choose what they wear, the government is usurping their individuality. Yet instead of outrage, citizens in the world state are conditioned to accept their placement. In his work, __UNIFORMS: Why We Are What We Wear__, Paul Fussell explains the significance of the uniform collectively and individually. From personal experience he tells of a uniforms duality of expression to both an individual and society. When discussing his research on society's attitude towards uniforms he describes, "The uniform, no matter how lowly, assures its audience that the wearer // has // a job, one likely not to be merely temporary and one extorting a degree of respect for being associated with a successful enterprise"(Fussell, 5). Meaning in both worlds, a uniform will always represent dedication to society. It is through uniforms that citizens in __Brave New World__ feel social cohesion regardless of their ranking; the uniform communicates successful membership in an operational society.

Whether certain attires are worn out of pride or simply necessity, they convey specific meaning to audiences. In the world state, colors are worn to remind the citizens to keep their socialization within their caste. This kind of social selection through clothing is frequent in society today because of people’s desire to associate with those who resemble themselves. In addition, specific time periods show societal effects too. Clothing has the power to silently display a culture’s values. In //The Epiphany of Female Flesh; A Phenomenological Hermeneutic of Popular Fashion//, Richard Alapack discusses trends of fashion among women over the decades. He explains how their clothing choices reflect upon historical changes within society. He elaborates, "Insofar as fashion interweaves wardrobe and skin, makeup and hairstyles, perfume, jewelry, and accessories, it mediates the shifting winds of social climate" (Alapack, 997). In other words, fashion is a way of expressing current social happenings in an expressive and unique manner. Alapack continues to discuss what certain styles say about the cultures they represent. In particular, he discusses “clothing tactics” by which American society began to show the emergence of sexuality due to increases in national pride. These tactics include, “1. Turning underwear to outerwear 2. Exposing ordinarily covered skin 3. Diaphany-the use of transparent material in clothing 4. Liquefaction-opaque and tight style of clothing as if it were a 'second skin'" (Alapack, 997). While choices of clothing may seem to be individual, they may often be influenced by larger scale trends within the culture. Consequently, fashion can express societies views about itself as a whole and thus, in both the world state as well as society today, it has the dual ability to be expressive as well as restrictive.

Clothes are not simply ways at looking at society as a whole, yet they can convey personal notions that can be studied through micro-sociology. On a personal level, clothes can allow individuals to express themselves and can oppress people by restricting their personal liberties. For example, in the world state citizens are limited to the colored uniform based on their fixed class standing. In society today, choice of dress is a way of expressing one’s self-worth, which is influenced by pop culture according to the time period. In Alapack’s article, he confirms, "Clothing reveals personal ambitions, social aspirations, and the prevailing zeitgeist" (Alapack, 997). While Epsilons and Betas have no freedom in the clothing they must wear, in current society, people are given the opportunity to communicate various emotions and attitudes through their choices in apparel. (but even in our world, this depends on the context - if you are hired to work in an office, you have limitations on what you can wear)

Nevertheless, with the power to choose clothing, comes the responsibility of impression management. Impression management is the understanding that when an individual dresses a certain way they are attempting to put off a certain image to the public. In __The Social Psychology of Clothing__, Susan Kaiser explains impression management’s prevalence and importance in society today. "The significance of clothing in interpersonal relations is its symbolism, which provides a means of communication with others...when we manage the impressions we present to others, we are making statements about how we see ourselves in relation to others and to social contexts" (Kaiser, 19-20). These formulations of self are completely absent in the world state in that each caste is methodically given a value within society. Although in the world state the work of impression management is removed, so are the emotions and bonds associated with these types of interactions. Clothing on an individual level manifests self-worth and other views that the individual takes personally within society.

Clothing, worn either by choice or by necessity, is powerful in its capacity to make reflections on the wearer or the society as a

whole. Specifically, it can manifest socioeconomic status and present hierarchies today as well as in Huxley’s __Brave New World__. However,

these judgments that fashion and dress present are not without human interaction, for it is what society does with these projections of class that

matter. Huxley urges readers to examine the over-obsession with material culture (including clothing, consumerism, etc.) in the world state in

reference to the current world in order to see how destructive this obsession can be. By suppressing any sort of individual dress the true impact of

fashion on our society is illuminated.

__ Works Cited: __ Alapack, Richard J. "The Epiphany of Female Flesh: A Phenomenological Hermeneutic of Popular Fashion." //Journal of Popular Culture// 42.6 (2009): 977-1003. Print.

Ferris, Kerry, and Jill Stein. //The Real World: an Introduction to Sociology//. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2010. Print.

Fussell, Paul. "A Thing About Uniforms." // Uniforms: Why We Are What We Wear //. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2002. 1-7. Print.

Huxley, Aldous. //Brave New World: And, Brave New World Revisited//. New York: Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2005. Print.

Kaiser, Susan B. The Social Psychology of Clothing and Personal Adornment. New York: Macmillan, 1985. Print.

__ Work Consulted: __

Breward, Christopher. // The Culture of Fashion: a New History of Fashionable Dress //. Manchester: Manchester UP, 1995. Print.

Dunn, Bill. // Uniforms //. London: Laurence King, 2009. Print.

EBSCOhost

JSTOR

Maynard, Margaret. "Dress and global 'sameness'" // Dress and Globalisation //. Manchester: Manchester UP, 2004. 32-50. Print.

OED

__Annotated Bibliography from Boatwright:__ __Research Topic-Clothing and Culture {Evidence of material culture now vs. BNW}__


 * Styles, John. The Dress of the People: Everyday Fashion in Eighteenth-century England. New Haven: Yale UP, 2007. Print.**



This was my first book source and was rather lengthy and maybe too broad, but it did help me find many important themes that I would later use in my

paper. It gave great detail about how clothing varied among different classes and why. Many of the chapters included historical pictures (fabulous depictions

of actual cloth/ fabric used) as well to supplement the text. The chapters were intelligently designed into categories; "Patterns of Clothing", "Getting and

Spending", "Understanding Clothes", and "People And Their Clothes". It was helpful to begin with this book and to look around the same stack to find other

sources pertaining to clothing.


 * Kaiser, Susan B. The Social Psychology of Clothing and Personal Adornment. New York: Macmillan, 1985. Print.**



This source is really more of a textbook, which is both good and bad. There is far more information than I could actually use, but when I carefully picked

through the various chapters in it to use some of the more precise and according quotations, it correlates well. This source also provides pictures along side

the text explaining some of the cultural practices and how fashion is not universal but is dictated by culture. It includes sections that discuss clothing’s

impact on interpersonal relations (micro-sociology) and collective behavior (macro-sociology). >


 * Alapack, Richard J. "The Epiphany of Female Flesh: A Phenomenological Hermeneutic of Popular Fashion." //Journal of Popular Culture// 42.6 (2009): 977-1003. Print. **

 The first first few pages of this article are interesting and express a knowledge of the meaning of fashion within our society, yet later the article focuses more on the body and sexual implications that clothing choices reveal. By looking at how sexuality has been manifested in clothing choices we can determine societal changes in what is accepted versus what is expected. This article hints at some macro/micro effects that dress has on globalization and cultural development. __ Quotes and Notes __ "Insofar as fashion interweaves wardrobe and skin, makeup and hairstyles, perfume, jewelry, and accessories, it mediates the shifting winds of social climate." "Clothing reveals personal ambitions, social aspirations, and the prevailing zeitgeist."

*Today the media plays a large role in pushing physical conformity(ex=health care, plastic surgery, tv and interenet [pornogrpahy] *Fashions across time can show us how women were perceived by society as well as themselves in other decades

**Ferris, Kerry, and Jill Stein. // The Real World: an Introduction to Sociology //. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2010. Print. **



*Information on Thomas Malthus and views on overpopulation->"Malthusian Belt" *Macro/Micro-sociology and major theories *Material culture in our society

*Brainstorm*

__Thesis:__ How clothing manifests social stratification and class association today and in BNW

>>>> 'The greatest moralizing and socializing force of all time.' (Huxley, 35-36)".
 * 1) **Hierarchy in BNW [Alpha, Beta, Gama, Delta, Epsilon] and in society today **
 * 2) Structural Functionalism perspective->Pros(sets up classes for socialization and identification) and Cons (dictates intellectual ability and restricts emotional contact) sociologically to the system-bureacracy
 * 3) " But wordless conditioning is crude and wholesale; cannot bring home the finer distinctions, cannot inculcate the more complex courses of behaviour. For that there must be words, but words without reason. In brief, hypnopædia.
 * 1) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 3em;">possible "quote" page 31


 * 1) **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px;">What is clothing and what does it say about our society?...Macrosociology **
 * 2) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">Colored uniforms represent individual's class rank [specific colors page 35]...status symbolism Social psy of clothing(372)
 * 3) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 3em;">"They hurried out of the room and returned in a minute or two, each pushing a kind of tall dumb-waiter laden, on all its four wire-netted shelves, with eight-month-old babies, all exactly alike (a Bokanovsky Group, it was evident) and all (since their caste was Delta) dressed in khaki,(Huxley, 29)".


 * 1) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 3em;"> Different time periods can show societal effects
 * 2)  "Insofar as fashion interweaves wardrobe and skin, makeup and hairstyles, perfume, jewelry, and accessories, it mediates the shifting winds of social climate, (Alapack, 997)".
 * 3) "Clothing tactics"-1. Turning underwear to outerwear 2. Exposing ordinarily covered skin 3. Diaphany-the use of transparent material in clothing 4. Liquefaction-opaque and tight style of clothing as if it were a 'second skin' (Alapack, 997).


 * 1) **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px;">How do clothes express or repress individuality?...Microsociology **
 * 2) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">Dress represents person's self-worth which is influenced by pop culture
 * 3) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 3em;">"Clothing reveals personal ambitions, social aspirations, and the prevailing zeitgeist, (Alapack, 997)".
 * 4) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 3em;">Impression management- "The significance of clothing in interpersonal relations is its symbolism, which provides a means of communication with others...when we manage the impressions we present to others, we are making statements about how we see ourselves in relation to others and to social contexts, (Kaiser,19-20)".
 * 5) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 3em;">BNW-class and according dress limit this kind of expression